About CEASe

Vision: Scott County will be a community free of substance abuse and addictions.

Mission Statement: To reduce the incidence and prevalence of substance abuse and addictions among youth and adults in Scott County. Scott County believes with its successful history of collaboration on multiple issues in the past, it will be able to coordinate efforts and successfully address the issue of substance abuse in our community. We are striving to become a community of abundant life and dignity where prevention is stressed, recovery is always possible, and many entry points into recovery are available.

History: Formerly called Scott County Citizens Against Substance Abuse (CASA), CEASe (The Coalition to Eliminate the Abuse of Substances) has served as the Local Coordinating Council (LCC) in Scott County for over 20 years. Community anti-drug coalitions were approved by the Governor’s Commission for a Drug Free Indiana and established by the general assembly in 1989. The goal was to develop local coalitions in each of the 92 Indiana counties to assess and address local substance abuse issues. Coalitions comprised of individuals and community leaders representing different sectors in a community were encouraged to work together to reduce the negative impacts of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs on its residents. In 2010, the Coalition was renamed CEASe of Scott County in order to distinguish it from “National Court Appointed Special Advocates,” or CASA.

As part of the Indiana state statute, the LCC is charged with the responsibility of assessing the impact of substances on the community by gathering data from law enforcement, courts, schools, community leaders, the coroner’s office, hospital, prosecutor, Indiana Youth Survey, Department of Child Services, etc., and to track those trends. Once the assessment is completed, the coalition is required to prepare a three-year Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP) which outlines the identified priority problems, objectives, and goals regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use in three areas: 1) prevention/education, 2) treatment/intervention, and 3) law enforcement/criminal justice.

As the recognized substance abuse coalition in Scott County, CEASe is also charged with the administration of the community drug fund, also created by state statute. It is a system by which fines, assessed and collected through the court system from specific drug and alcohol offenses, are released back into the community as awarded grants to support agencies and providers. This allows these recipients to identify and expand services to those individuals being adversely affected by substances in the area of prevention/education, treatment/intervention and justice/law enforcement. Every year CEASe distributes between $18,000-$24,000 of Drug-Free Community funds in the form of community grants. CEASe has established a fiscally responsible administration policy regarding the distribution of these funds as a tool to assist it in achieving its goals as identified in the CCP.